Lok Sabha election 2024: Which are the key seats/constituencies in Phase 2 voting?

Key seats in Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 2: Voting for 89 seats across 13 states will be conducted for the second phase of the Lok Sabha election 2024 on Friday, April 26. The campaigning for Phase 2 ended on Wednesday, April 24.

In Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha elections, polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

Lok Sabha polls 2024 Phase 2: Key candidates

Among the prominent contestants are Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram), Shashi Tharoor of the Congress (Thiruvananthapuram), Bharatiya Janata Party's Tejasvi Surya (Bengaluru South Lok Sabha), Hema Malini (Mathura), Arun Govil (Meerut), Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad), Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh (Bangalore Rural), former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (Mandya) and Independent candidate Pappu Yadav (Purnia), CPI's Annie Raja (Wayanad).

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Phase 2 voting in Lok Sabha 2024: Key constituencies/seats

• Wayanad, Kerala: In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress won from Wayanad with a massive margin of over 4.31 lakh votes – the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. He secured 64.94 per cent vote share, defeating LDF candidate PP Suneer. The NDA had fielded BDJ (S) leader Tushar Vellapally. Rahul Gandhi, the incumbent MP, is set to run for re-election to safeguard his position. However, it won't be easy for Rahul Gandhi this time as he is facing a strong challenge, with Annie Raja nominated by the Communist Party of India (CPI) and K Surendran representing the Bharatiya Janata Party as formidable opponents.

• Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat and one of Kerala's most esteemed Congress figures, has consistently secured victory in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. Since his initial triumph in 2009, where he defeated the Communist Party after its two consecutive wins, Shashi Tharoor has maintained his hold on the seat, triumphing over the BJP in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections by significant margins. Shashi Tharoor is gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where he will face stiff competition. His opponents include Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the BJP and Pannyan Raveendran of the CPI.

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• Mathura, Uttar Pradesh: Hema Malini, a two-term incumbent MP and former Rajya Sabha member, has been representing the Mathura constituency for the BJP since 2014. Eyeing a third consecutive term, Hema Malini is gearing up for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where she faces competition from Mukesh Dhangar of the Congress, who is a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini, an actor-turned-politician, secured a resounding victory in the Mathura constituency. She garnered approximately 530,000 votes, surpassing her closest competitor, Kunwar Narendra Singh from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), by over 293,000 votes.

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• Meerut, Uttar Pradesh: Replacing long-serving three-time BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, who has held the Meerut seat since 2004, Arun Govil – an actor famous for his portrayal of Lord Ram in the Ramayan TV series – is poised to compete against Devvrat Kumar Tyagi of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Sunita Verma of the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha election 2024. In the previous two Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and 2019, Rajendra Agarwal secured victories with substantial margins, overcoming challenges from BSP candidates.

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• Kota Bundi, Rajasthan: Om Birla, the incumbent Speaker of the Lok Sabha and two-term MP from Kota representing the BJP, is gearing up for another electoral battle to achieve a third consecutive victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. His challenger from the Congress is Prahlad Gunjal. Kota, traditionally a stronghold of the Congress, saw a notable shift towards the BJP when Om Birla emerged victorious in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Before his tenure in the Lok Sabha, Om Birla had already established a robust political presence in Rajasthan, serving as a member of the Rajasthan legislative assembly from 2003 to 2014, representing the Kota South Assembly constituency.

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• Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh: The high-profile Rajnandgaon seat will see a contest between BJP's sitting MP Santosh Pandey and Congress' Bhupesh Baghel, a former chief minister and incumbent MLA. For more than three decades, Rajnandgaon has remained a bastion of the BJP. Santosh Pandey had emerged victorious in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, succeeding Abhishek Singh, the son of former chief minister Raman Singh. Bhupesh Baghel's entry into the electoral fray of Rajnandgaon has intensified contest in the region.

• Bangalore South, Karnataka: Tejasvi Surya, the current MP for Bangalore South and national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) since September 26, 2020, is gearing up for re-election in the 2024 elections from the same constituency. Tejasvi Surya will go head-to-head with Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Tejasvi Surya secured a decisive victory over his nearest rival, Congress candidate BK Hariprasad, with a vote margin of 3,31,192, thus extending the party's winning streak in the constituency.

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• Bangalore Rural, Karnataka: DK Suresh, who was the only Congress candidate to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, seeking reelection from Bangalore Rural in the 2024 elections. DK Suresh – Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar's brother – defeated former MLA Anitha Kumaraswamy in the 2013 bypoll after her husband and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy resigned from Lok Sabha following his win in the assembly polls that year, and was re-elected in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. The BJP-JD(S) combine has fielded noted cardiac surgeon CN Manjunath, who is the son-in-law of Deve Gowda and brother-in-law of HD Kumaraswamy, from Bangalore Rural. Manjunath, who is contesting on the BJP symbol, had headed the state-owned Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research for 17 years before retiring in January this year. Shivakumar expressed confidence about Suresh's victory and said electoral fights with the Deve Gowda family are not new.